


By the Light of Day

by relic_amaranth



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relic_amaranth/pseuds/relic_amaranth
Summary: Bucky has a nightmare. You and Steve reassure him that you’re always here for him, and he won’t lose either of you.





	By the Light of Day

**Author's Note:**

> IIIIIII accidentally an Avengers fanfic. And by ‘accidentally’ I mean ‘I have about five-thousand different but very similar StuckyxReader fics and this is the first one I’ve finished’. Not the most original but I don’t really care. I am ridiculous for normal!ReaderxAvengers and especially ridiculous for normal!ReaderxStevexBucky. Can’t help it. Won’t help it.
> 
> Important to note: Not canon compliant. Bucky as an accepted Avenger.
> 
> Warnings: Described nightmare involving Reader in peril, fem pronouns for Reader, angsty nightmare, fluff everywhere else.

Bucky wakes from a nightmare, chased to consciousness by screams not his own. It takes him a second to realize where he is– sitting, panting, in his own bed. Or, rather, the bed he shares with you and Steve. He catches his breath and grounds himself. He is not an Asset, he is not a Soldier, he is Bucky. He repeats the words, those awful words, in sequence; a tremor of fear passes through him at the last, but…nothing happens.

“Bucky?” Steve mumbles next to him and starts to stir. Bucky puts a hand on Steve’s back, running his flesh hand in soothing circles as his prosthetic moves to do the same for his other partner, only to find the space empty. His heart seizes again and he quickly scans the room. He says your name twice before he remembers that you didn’t come to bed with them, begging off for some last-minute work. When he listens, he can hear you clattering away in the living room.

For the first time since he woke up, he breathes easy. Steve squints and turns. “Bucky? You okay?” he asks and reaches to put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.

“Yeah Stevie, ‘m fine,” he mutters and puts his metal hand over Steve’s. It glints in the crack of light coming through the mostly-shut door and he drops it back down. “Bad dream but I’m okay. Gonna go see our girl.”

“Mm,” Steve says but with one reassuring squeeze he sinks back down and his eyelids flutter shut. “Bring her to bed, would ya? She works too hard.” He mutters something unintelligible but just as Bucky thinks he’s about to drift off to silence Steve says, clearly, “…jealous. Gonna– gonna turn myself into paper if it keeps up.”

Despite the dream, Bucky smiles. “Oh yeah? How you gonna do that?” he chuckles and sweeps Steve’s hair from his face. But Steve is already gone to the world, and Bucky files that comment away for future use. When he’s feeling better about it. But for right now he gives Steve a quick kiss, hops out of bed, and sneaks out into the living room.

He sees you there, sitting on the couch and leaning over a mess of papers and gadgets on the coffee table, working with the light of one lamp. He takes a second to admire you– your hair is messed up, you’re wearing loose pajamas, and he can almost see the bags under your eyes from where he’s standing.

He would swear his heart swells with how much he loves you, especially in moments like this where you are safe and soft. Seeing you alive and doing something comparatively mundane is a blessing, especially in dealing with the image of you his subconscious has just tortured him with.

You cover a yawn and mutter to yourself as you scribble something in your notebook and then type away on your laptop. Bucky plops next to you most unsubtly but still you jump and flail your arms, startled. Bucky chuckles and you blink your sleep-deprived blurred vision away before you turn your head to smile at him. “Oh, hey there Sleepyface.” You wrap an arm behind his head to pull him in for a quick kiss. “Just a few minutes.”

Despite himself, Bucky snorts. “You said that when Steve and I went to bed. It’s two in the morning, Dollface.”

You squint at the nearest clock, ready to correct him. ‘2:19’ makes you scrunch your face in distaste. “Oh. Oops. I guess I _should_ go to bed…”

Before you can even glance at where you are, Bucky closes the laptop for you and stands up, extending his hand. His prosthetic first, but when he realizes he quickly switches it for the other. You notice, but don’t comment on it. “Come on, sweetheart; Steve and I are getting lonely. Besides, tomorrow’s Saturday. You can work on it then.”

You sigh but give in, accepting the help up and leaning in to hug Bucky once you’re on your feet. And if you need the extra support, you certainly aren’t going to tell him. “Yeah. But I want to spend the weekend with you guys, not with work.”

“Don’t worry, Steve and I won't let you work _too_ hard,” he says and starts to pull you along. You plant your feet, though, and Bucky turns to look at you.

“Did you have a nightmare?” you ask gently. Bucky’s face shifts through micro-expressions faster than you can name them. Not that you have to– the action is answer enough.

“How’d you know?” he asks.

“It’s two in the morning, Dollface.” You press a finger to his nose and eke a little smile out of him. It falls just as fast. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Do you _need_ to talk about it?”

He’s quiet for several seconds. “Not right now.”

You nod and nuzzle his chest. You leave the mess as it is and go to crawl in next to Steve (who is sprawled in the center, the bed hog), and Bucky pushes you closer, crowding you from behind so he can drape his arm over the both of you. “Better?” you ask.

“The best,” he says with a sigh and kisses your shoulder. “Good night, sweetheart.”

 

When you wake up again it’s still early enough that the sky outside is still mostly dark, made even darker by the appearance of some very foreboding clouds. You look at the bedside clock over Steve’s shoulder and grumble at the measly few hours of sleep you just got. You feel something tremble behind you, but the second you feel it is the second Bucky gets himself under control and he strokes your hair. “What are you doing up already?” he mumbles.

‘Not right now’ has become ‘right now’ to you. You turn and wrap your arm around Bucky, pulling yourself closer since moving him is a feat and a half. “Did you get any sleep?” you ask. Bucky looks sheepish but you’re not going to let him deter you, no matter how cute he looks. You wait for your answer.

“Buck?” Steve asks, startling the both of you. He presses close behind you, putting his head right above yours on the pillow. “It’s not polite to ignore a lady asking you a question.”

Bucky snorts. But you and Steve don’t budge, and you can see Bucky swallow. “I really don’t– I don’t want you to–”

“We’re not gonna judge you, Bucky,” you say and start stroking his hair. He flinches but leans into your touch, so you lightly stroke his face while Steve runs his hand over Bucky’s (real) shoulder. “Was it a memory?”

“No,” he says so softly you almost have to read his lips to understand him.

“Then share it. We’re all in this together,” Steve says. Bucky’s eyes turn up and it almost breaks your heart, how sad and scared he looks. You stop stroking his face and bring his hand up to hold.

Bucky visibly steels himself and his face goes blank. Not Soldier blank, thankfully, but he definitely detaches. “There were…” He frowns in frustration. “Hydra? I don’t really know, just…people. Bad people. In our room. They had me…I was under their control, but just my body. I was standing still but inside I was screaming. They had you, Stevie, beat to hell and restrained on the ground. You were yellin’ at me to help, do something, ‘cause one of them had (y/n) pinned on the bed, a gun at her head, ready to pull the–”

His voice breaks as he talks about it and you ache for him. It would be disturbing for anybody and Bucky’s nightmares are more realistic than others. As though real events seep in through the cracks and add extra weight even to the imagined horrors. You...try not to think too hard about that one, in light of the subject matter.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost either of you,” Bucky says hopelessly.

“(Y/n)’s fine and so am I. No filthy Hydra is gonna get either of you on my watch; I’m here to protect you,” Steve says fiercely and kisses you both. The protectiveness makes you smile, and even seems to make Bucky relax.

“Same!” you chirp and kiss Steve and then Bucky. And you kiss Bucky a few more times. “I’ll kick ‘em in the shins. If they’re as tall as you two they’ll never see me coming.”

Steve snorts and even Bucky cracks a small smile. “Also there’s that security system Stark installed. Without my permission,” you mutter the last part but think a little bit. Well, now’s a good time as any. “Though I admit…I’ve considered Tony’s offer to move into the tower.”

“Really?” Steve asks and you imagine his eyebrows are up in his hair. Even Bucky looks more shocked than sad. That’s worth it alone.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now,” you admit. “I know I’ve been a little…overly stubborn about it.” Made even more stubborn when Tony makes jokes about your little bachelorette pad, but that’s neither here nor there. “But I don’t like you guys having to commute every time disaster strikes when you’re with me and I’d rather have you two all the time.”

“You want us so bad you’d live with Tony?” Bucky smiles wider. “Doll, I’m touched.”

“Yeah, well, I hope you realize how difficult it’s going to be for me.” You roll your eyes. “It won’t just be tolerating normal Tony, oh no. He’s going to be smug. ‘How do you like it here? Isn’t this so much better than x-thing at your old small apartment?’ He’s going to try and get me to say he was _right_ even though, just by moving in, I will have conceded defeat.”

Both your boys chuckle at that. Bucky is the first to turn serious, though. “You don’t have to, sweetheart. I don’t want you to have to give up anything else.”

“I haven’t given up anything. I’ve gained two wonderful boyfriends who I love more than anything in this world.” You pull Bucky’s hair behind his ear. “Also, making you feel safe is worth it to me. If you’re worried about just the two of you not being enough to protect me there’d be, like, fifty other superheroes and master assassins to get through, plus Jarvis.”

“And Pepper, Jane, and Darcy,” Steve ‘jokes’.

“Redundant.” You flit your hand dismissively. “I already said ‘superheroes’ didn’t I?”

Bucky’s smiling now, really smiling, and you know you’re set to do this no matter what. “We’ll…talk about it more later, I guess.”

“M’kay.” You stretch out. “Pancakes good?”

“Sounds great. I’ll make ‘em,” Steve says and gets out of bed.

You snort. “The hell you will,” you say and follow behind him.

“I didn’t set off the alarm last time!”

Bucky stays in bed for a few extra moments and rolls his head, feeling a looseness in his neck and shoulders he can’t ever remember having. As you and Steve bicker from the living area he shakes his head and gets up to run interference. This sort of peacekeeping he could do forever, and if he has anything to say about it, he will.


End file.
